Speaking of Which Captures his First U.S. Graded Stakes Victory

Moyglare Stud Farm, Ltd.’s Speaking of Which, out of Ireland, captured his first United States graded stakes victory on Saturday at Calder. Trained by Christophe Clement, he took the Grade III $100,000 Tropical Turf Handicap by a length with jockey Joe Bravo aboard.

“Christophe is such a great horseman,” said jockey Joe Bravo. “He said ‘Joe, do me a favor. Just try to put him in the game early. He’s got a very good turn of foot. It just doesn’t last that long and look what happened today. He knows his horse. That’s why you’ve got to love riding for the man.”

Speaking of Which stalked the pace until he angled out for room in the stretch. The race favorite, Wachtel Stable’s Tetradrachm stalked the pace for most of the race as well, until he slipped through to the lead at the 1/16 pole. Speaking of Which rallied late for the win and Tetradrachm finished second after not being able to hold off the winner.

“You can tell that this is a very good horse by what he’s done over in Europe,” said Bravo. “We’ve been trying to ask him to do a completely different thing by trying to make up a lot of ground by sitting way back and make a run.”

“He always showed some turnout in Europe, and he showed some good races here,” said assistant trainer Thomas Brandebourger. “He worked very well this last week, so we were pretty confident he was going to run a big race. He had a great ride and he won easy, so that’s a great race.”

Speaking of Which returned $11.20, $5.40, and $2.80 for the win. Tetradrachm paid $4.00 and $2.60 for second, and Bad Debt returned $2.40 for third.

Completing the order of finish were Heiko, Grand Tito, Paris Vegas, Reflecting, Exothermic, and Live in Joy.